Every motor carrier operating in the United States is assigned a USDOT number by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. That number unlocks a detailed safety profile including inspection history, crash records, and violation data. Here's how to look it all up — for free.
What Is a USDOT Number?
A USDOT number is a unique identifier assigned to every commercial motor carrier, broker, and freight forwarder registered with the FMCSA. Think of it like a Social Security number for trucking companies. There are currently 4,411,737 USDOT numbers in the FMCSA database.
Companies receive their USDOT number when they register through the FMCSA Unified Registration System. The number stays with the company for life — it never changes, even if the company moves, changes names, or is sold.
Step 1: Find the Carrier's USDOT Number
You can find a carrier's USDOT number in several places:
- On the truck itself — Federal law requires the USDOT number to be displayed on both sides of every commercial vehicle
- Insurance documents — The USDOT number appears on certificates of insurance and bills of lading
- Accident reports — Police reports from trucking accidents typically include the carrier's USDOT number
- Search by name — You can search for any carrier by company name on CarrierRecord or the FMCSA's SAFER system
Step 2: Look Up the Safety Record
Once you have the company name or USDOT number, you can look up their complete safety profile on CarrierRecord. Our database includes:
- Inspection history — Every roadside inspection conducted by state and federal officers, including whether vehicles or drivers were placed out of service
- Crash records — All crashes reported to the FMCSA over the past 24 months, including fatalities, injuries, and tow-aways
- Safety grade — Our A-through-F letter grade that distills the carrier's overall safety performance into a single score
- Fleet size and details — Number of power units, drivers, cargo types, and operating classification
For example, searching for "Schneider National" will show their full safety profile including hundreds of inspections, crash records across multiple states, and a CarrierRecord safety grade based on our weighted methodology.
Try It Now
Search for any trucking company by name or USDOT number.
Step 3: Understand What You're Looking At
Out-of-Service (OOS) Rate
The OOS rate is the percentage of inspections where a vehicle or driver was found to have safety violations serious enough to be placed "out of service" — meaning they cannot operate until the issue is corrected. The national average vehicle OOS rate is 23.2%. Carriers above this threshold are failing inspections at a higher-than-normal rate.
Safety Grade (A through F)
CarrierRecord calculates a safety grade for every carrier with inspection data. The grade is based on vehicle OOS rate, driver OOS rate, crash frequency per power unit, and fatal crash history. See our full methodology for details.
BASIC Categories
The FMCSA tracks violations across seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs): Unsafe Driving, Hours-of-Service, Driver Fitness, Controlled Substances/Alcohol, Vehicle Maintenance, Hazardous Materials, and Crash Indicator. Each carrier profile shows violation counts by BASIC to help identify specific problem areas.
Why Check a Carrier's Safety Record?
There are several reasons you might want to look up a carrier's FMCSA data:
- After an accident — A carrier's prior crash and violation history can be relevant evidence in personal injury cases
- Before hiring a carrier — Shippers and brokers can assess safety risk before booking loads
- Due diligence — Insurance companies, investors, and potential business partners can evaluate a carrier's safety track record
- Public interest — Anyone sharing the road with commercial trucks has a right to know which carriers have poor safety records
Free vs. Paid Options
All FMCSA safety data is public domain — it's collected and maintained using taxpayer dollars. CarrierRecord provides free, unlimited access to the same data available through the FMCSA's own tools, presented in a more accessible format with our proprietary safety grades.
You do not need to pay for a subscription, create an account, or provide any personal information to look up a carrier's safety record on CarrierRecord.
Related Reading
- What Does Out-of-Service Mean? — Understanding OOS violations and what they indicate
- FMCSA Inspection Levels Explained — What happens at each of the six inspection levels
- What Is a CSA Score? — How FMCSA's Safety Measurement System works
- What to Do After a Trucking Accident — When and why to check a carrier's record